Fracking has become a focus in Broomfield after community groups have formed in protest of future oil and gas drilling plans in North Park.

Broomfield's Planning and Zoning commissioners on Monday approved plans for four new natural gas wells on a 16.7 acre property south of West 160th Avenue and west of Sheridan Parkway, named the Brozovich site. This site already has one existing well.

City Council is tentatively scheduled to approve the plans at its April 23 meeting. During that meeting, council also could approve plans for 17 other wells at two additional locations in North Park.

North Park, owned and developed by McWhinney, is comprised of 935 acres west of Interstate 25 between Colo. 7 and Northwest Parkway. Broomfield and McWhinney hope North Park will become the city's next major job-creation center. Plans include as many as 17.2 million square feet of mixed-use commercial development, a large-scale science and research park and more than 6,000 residential units.

The new round of drilling plans has sparked some community members to protest. One community group, Don't Frack Broomfield, said it plans to bring about 10 people to tonight's council meeting to speak against the future drilling plans.

The group has started a change.org petition and organizes itself via its Facebook page.

"We do not want this in our community and we are organizing against this," said Laura Fronckiewicz, a member of the group.

The group said fracking is harmful to the community because of potential air and water pollution and impacts on traffic safety and home values.

The Brozovich site is of particular concern because it's about a mile from charter school Prospect Ridge Academy.

Yet Monday's Planning and Zoning meeting had a much different crowd in attendance. During public comment, all four people who spoke were in favor of the Brozovich drilling plans.

Scott Millington, who has lived in Broomfield for six years, said responsible oil and gas drilling is essential for his family and the community to do everything from heat their home to drive a car.

"We're in strong support of local communities developing our natural resources," he said. "There's a lot of anti-development people ... but there are people in the community who do support it."

Fracking in Broomfield's North Park area is not new. According to an April 5 map provided by city staff, Broomfield has more than 40 producing wells, mainly on the east side of Interstate 25, north of East 168th Avenue.

Part of the reason for recent protests against fracking is because of Prospect Ridge Academy, which is about a mile from the proposed Brozovich Wells drilling site. The Oil and Gas Conservation Commission requires drilling operations to be 500 feet or more away from homes and buildings.

Jennie Markarian, a parent of two Prospect Ridge students, said she moved to Anthem to raise her family.

"Allowing this (drilling) will bring down the property values in our community, at the same time causing families like mine to feel forced to move because of the health risks," she wrote in an email.

Prospect Ridge principal April Wilkin declined to comment on the proposed drilling or its potential impacts on the school.

At a future meeting, City Council is expected to approve the Brozovich and other fracking plans. Anna Bertanzetti, Broomfield's principal planner, said there were "no key issues" with the plans, because they comply with both the oil and gas commission and Broomfield's own municipal code.

In addition to the Brozovich site, council will address plans that include two other proposed fracking sites, called the Nordstrom and Memorial sites.

The Nordstrom proposal calls for 11 natural gas wells on an 182 acre existing well site north of West 160th Avenue and east of Sheridan Parkway.

The Memorial proposal calls for building six new natural gas wells on a 50-acre site south of Colo. 7 and west of I-25. Memorial has no existing wells on site.

Planning and Zoning has not yet approved the Memorial site plans, because the operating company, Sovereign, is still working out road use plans and other issues with the proposed site's neighbor, Evergreen Cemetery.

In a memo to staff, City and County Manager Charles Ozaki said Broomfield and other home-rule cities cannot prohibit oil and gas drilling within its jurisdiction, but it can regulate where wells are placed based on compliance with site plans, setbacks, geologic hazards, wildlife impacts or special noise or visual elements.

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